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Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

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Re: Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

#31

Post by lotsofcows »

derefr wrote: post #22
ColinWright wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've found that users really are idiots > when it comes to typing that in. They're not idiots. It is normal for people not to work at the level of precision that this sort of thing requires. Decades of work on these sorts of things have shown me that it is computer programmers who are not normal. The ability to get thousands, even millions of characters exactly right is extremely unusual, even with extended trainin…

At what rate do people screw up addresses on regular mailing envelopes?

Is this comparable?

If I get the post code wrong but the rest of the address right, the letter will get through. If I make a typo in the name or address, the letter will get through.

If I make even the tiniest of typos in the email address, it'll fail.

Re: Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

#32

Post by itsybitsycoder »

lotsofcows wrote: post #31
derefr wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what rate do people screw up addresses on regular mailing envelopes?

Is this comparable? If I get the post code wrong but the rest of the address right, the letter will get through. If I make a typo in the name or address, the letter will get through. If I make even the tiniest of typos in the email address, it'll fail.

I've written a totally wrong post code and city name before and still gotten a successful delivery. (Totally wrong as in, post code for my previous house in a different region, and the name of a neighbouring city instead of my city.) When I saw that I was really impressed with the postal service, and not quite as impressed by me. :)

Re: Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

#33

Post by [deleted] »

derefr wrote: post #22
ColinWright wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've found that users really are idiots > when it comes to typing that in. They're not idiots. It is normal for people not to work at the level of precision that this sort of thing requires. Decades of work on these sorts of things have shown me that it is computer programmers who are not normal. The ability to get thousands, even millions of characters exactly right is extremely unusual, even with extended trainin…

At what rate do people screw up addresses on regular mailing envelopes?

[deleted]

Re: Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

#34

Post by peapicker »

I have an email for the form firstname.lastname at gmail -- and apparently many people with my name can't remember that that is not their account (I can tell from the geolocation info on some of the emails, England, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, etc). I've been signed up for countless services without verification, and have received DishNetwork bills (enough info to change their subs), gas receipts, Kmart crap, dating website stuff, etc. I have received confidential business deal emails from more than two of them. It is ridiculous that people can't recall their own email address.

If only they would ALL send verification emails!!!!

Re: Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

#35

Post by ktsmith »

peapicker wrote: post #34

I have an email for the form firstname.lastname at gmail -- and apparently many people with my name can't remember that that is not their account (I can tell from the geolocation info on some of the emails, England, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, etc). I've been signed up for countless services without verification, and have received DishNetwork bills (enough info to change their subs), gas receipts, Kmart crap, dating…

I have a similar issue. I've gotten peoples apple account activation emails when buying new iPhones, emails from realtors, and emails from teachers about a student intended for their parent. I got a contract for a new business just this week which said it was time sensitive and was asking for a signature via right signature. I was hoping there was somewhere in rightsignature to say that the contract was sent to the wrong address but nope all you can do is sign the thing. Luckily the contract listed a phone number and I was able to reach the account manager who had a phone number for the client and got it sorted out.

Re: Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

#36

Post by MetaCosm »

> So why make them verify?

To prove they control that email address, to ensure they didn't put it in wrong, and to protect poor bastards like myself with common email addresses from getting SPAMMED with mail for idiots who don't know their own email address.

----

Seriously, as someone with a VeryCommonName@gmail.com -- I nearly everyday get dozens of emails from services that do not verify addresses. AT&T, Boost, Netflix, and many more.

At will I can reset these peoples passwords, delete accounts, upgrade/downgrade services, and do much more. There are too many for me to constantly deal with them, and the root cause is this idiotic authors recommendation.

What we need is the exact opposite, we need EVERYONE doing verification of email ownership before sending mail to that account -- else it is borderline spam and harassment.

I am in AWE of how spectacularly the author missed the point.

Re: Please Stop Verifying My Email Address

#37

Post by T-hawk »

ColinWright wrote: post #18
shdon wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, I've found that users really are idiots when it comes to typing that in. One of the things my company does is organise events, sometimes free, sometimes paid for. Hundreds of people sign up. In order to be allowed entry, they will need to get an e-ticket (which is emailed to them a week in advance). My boss considers e-mail verification too much of a hassle. The result? Roughly 10% of the users mistype th…

> I've found that users really are idiots > when it comes to typing that in. They're not idiots. It is normal for people not to work at the level of precision that this sort of thing requires. Decades of work on these sorts of things have shown me that it is computer programmers who are not normal. The ability to get thousands, even millions of characters exactly right is extremely unusual, even with extended trainin…

Programmers don't get things right with that precision either. They get it right only after many cycles of feedback and iteration. From many layers: the IDE, the compiler, code analysis tools, and finally runtime behavior.

Postal mail addressing doesn't permit any sort of feedback loop. The "user" has no indication at mailing time of any problems with the address. So it's no surprise that errors are common.

If you want email addresses to be correct, then you need that feedback loop, which means email verification.

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